This invention relates generally to firearm safety lock devices and more particularly to cable type locks arranged to extend through the barrel and/or the cartridge ejection port.
Thousand of handguns, shotguns and rifles are purchased every year by citizens for use in sporting events, such as hunting or trap and skeet shooting, or for use in home protection. Typically, guns are stored at one""s home or apartment in drawers, closets or even under the bed. While a minority of gun owners have gun safes to store their guns, most gun owners store their guns in unlocked areas of the home accessible to others dwelling there. As such, guns provide a danger to children or adolescents whose curiosity may lead them to find and play with a gun. Additionally, a child finding a firearm may take it to show friends or take it to school. While adults may believe that guns are safely put away, children and adolescents always seem to find them, and as a result, fatalities and injuries resulting from the accidental discharge of firearms, particularly by children, has become problematic. Also the intentional use of guns by children against classmates and teachers in schools has been increasing over the last several years. Suicides by use of firearms are also at an alarming rate. In response to the rise of this danger, the US Congress and many state legislative bodies throughout the country have enacted or are in the process of enacting legislation requiring that each new purchase or transfer of a gun be accompanied by the purchase or transfer of a suitable lock.
Most conventional gun locks are made of an easily manufactured material such as die cast aluminum or plastic to make the locks economically feasible for the gun manufacturers to bundle with each gun or the gun owner to purchase separately. Such material is subject to being compromised, for example, by forced removal of the lock by a prying and/or sawing attack.
This latter problem came to a head early in 2001 when the California legislature, aware that there were many inadequate gun locks on the market, passed legislation which will make it unlawful for a firearm to be sold or transferred within the State of California after Jan. 1, 2002 without an approved safety device. In implementing the legislation the California Department of Justice, Firearm Division, has required that among other things any approved lock resist destruction of the lock.
Gun locks are typically classified into two categories, i.e., trigger locks and cable locks. Trigger locks such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,437,119 and 5,918,402 and application Ser. Nos. 09/593,533, 09/871,753 and 10/029,689, assigned to the assignee of this application, have two sides which clamp around the trigger guard of a gun to prevent access to the trigger. While trigger locks, if properly constructed, function as satisfactory determents to the unauthorized use of a firearm, such locks have a drawback of not insuring that a bullet is not present in the chamber of the locked gun. In addition, trigger locks are generally more expensive than cable locks.
A typical gun cable lock includes an elongated flexible cable which is generally armored, i.e., the individual sockets or links (not shown) are joined together by a twisted wire with the links being made of hardened steel to deter access to the inner wire. The flexible cable is shown in FIG. 1 as being threaded through the barrel 12 of a handgun 14. The fixed end 10a of the cable is secured within a lock housing 16 by means of a sheave 16b wedged within a groove 10b in the fixed end. See FIGS. 2-4. The lock housing is formed from a plurality of steel laminations 16c secured together via rivets 16d and includes a cable free end receiving bore 16e within which is positioned a plunger member 18 biased upwardly by compression spring 20. See FIG. 2A plastic cover 22 encompasses the sides and a portion of the top and bottom of the housing.
A conventional key cylinder lock 28, mounted in the lock housing, includes a spring biased split tumbler casing 28a and a plug or inner barrel 28b which is rotatable, through a given angle, 90xc2x0 or less, with a key 29. The plug 28b is formed with two upwardly projecting spaced posts 28c positioned on the underside 30a of a cam 30 which includes downwardly projecting triangular-shaped stops 30b. Only one of the posts is shown in FIGS. 2-4. The stops 30b are engaged by the posts 28c to rotate the cam to its unlocked position by action of the key 29 as will be explained. An upstanding rib 30c and a short spring retaining rod 30d are formed on the upper surface 30e of the cam. See FIGS. 7 and 8. A spiral spring 32 extends between a center in the rod 30d and a stationary notch 16f in one of the laminated plates, to bias the cam in a counterclockwise direction viewing the top surface of the cam as is illustrated in FIG. 7. The cam and bias spring are sometimes referred to as a spring/cam assembly herein.
A locking member or bar 34 rides on the upper surface 30e of the cam and is biased toward the bore 16e but prevented from entering the bore by the spring biased plug 18 unless the free end of the cable has depressed the plunger and placed an annular groove 10c at the cable free or active end 10d opposite the locking member 34. In this case, the locking member is pushed by the rib 30c into the groove via the action of spring 32 to lock the cable free end 10d to the housing.
The prior cable lock housings, designed to deter a cutting or sawing attack, employ hardened steel laminations with non-hardened rivets to secure the laminations together. While the laminations are stamped out and partially assembled by automatic machines there is still some hand labor involved in inserting the key lock cylinder, cam, locking bar, sheave and plunger/spring components (if used) during the assembly process. In total about 20 laminations, 4 rivets, a key cylinder, a locking bar and a cam (assuming that the plunger/spring is not used) are needed for each lock housing.
There is a need for a simpler, less expensive and lighter lock housing for cable locks designed to meet anti-strict testing criteria now in place in at least one state and under consideration at the Federal Government.
In accordance with the present invention an elongated cable, preferably armored, or alternatively a shackle, is provided with a free end. The free end of the cable is adapted to be inserted through a barrel, cartridge ejection port or magazine chamber of a firearm and a fixed end which is not insertable through such firearm. The shackle is adapted to be inserted through a hasp, for example. The free end defines an annular groove or detent.
A lock housing, formed of an inner substantially rigid non-steel body encapsulated or enclosed within a hardened steel shell, has a top and bottom wall and a cable (or shackle) free end receiving bore defining a longitudinal axis extending from the top wall and capturing the fixed end of the cable. The rigid inner body, having a hardness value less than steel, shell may, for example, be made of plastic. The housing further includes a lock cylinder cavity extending into the housing from the bottom wall and also oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis, the housing having a key access opening into the cavity.
A key lock cylinder is mounted in the cavity and includes a rotatable plug for receiving and turning through a predetermined angle from a locked to an unlocked position with a key. A locking member or deadbolt is coupled to the cylinder and arranged for movement out of the cable (or shackle) free end receiving bore when operated by the key to enable the cable or shackle free end to be removed from the housing. Preferably the deadbolt or locking member moves into and out of the cable free end receiving bore only in response to the rotation of the plug to the locked (first) and unlocked (second) positions, respectively.
The construction and operation of the invention can best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like components are given the same reference numeral in the several figures.